Humanizing product development | Adriel Frederick (Reddit, Lyft, Facebook)

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

October 20, 2022

Duration

1h 7m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Adriel Frederick is VP of Product Management at Reddit X, where he helps incubate and scale new products. He is a former Product Lead at Facebook, as well as a former PM and Director of Product at Lyft. In today’s episode, we focus on what it takes to become a better product leader. Adriel shares anecdotes from his time at Lyft and Facebook, insights about how to lead through tough times, why there isn’t an algorithmic solution to everything, why R&D teams need to be a part of the core mission, the tangible benefits of working on diverse teams, and his thoughts on the future of AI. He also introduces the concept of cannonballs, why you should focus on the marginal user, why organization and empathy are the most important PM skills, and so much more. Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/humanizing-product-development-adriel-frederick-reddit-lyft-facebook/#transcript — Where to find Adriel Frederick:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/drellf
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrielfrederick/

— Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

— Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:

• Linear: https://linear.app/lenny
• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny
• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/

— Referenced:

• Jules Walter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/julesdwalt
• Jules Walter’s guest post on Lenny’s newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/product-sense
• Mark Zuckerberg on The Joe Rogan Experience: https://open.spotify.com/episode/51gxrAActH18RGhKNza598
• Sam Harris’s TED Talk on AI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nt3edWLgIg
• Facebook’s 7 friends in 10 days: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-chamath-palihapitya-dramatically-improved-user-malinda-senanayake/
• The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power: https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123/
• The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations: https://www.amazon.com/New-Map-Energy-Climate-Nations/dp/0143111159/
• Revisionist History podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/revisionist-history/id1119389968
• Tuned In podcast: https://www.hpacademy.com/blog/tuned-in-high-performance-academy-podcast/
• Mo on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81134264
• Radiant Nuclear: https://www.radiantnuclear.com/

— In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Adriel’s background (06:13) What he does at Reddit X (07:27) Reddit X’s avatar marketplace and NFTs (08:33) Why R&D teams need to be a part of the core mission (11:12) What it’s like to be the first black PM at Facebook (14:58) How to foster diversity (19:40) Being a PM at controversial companies, and how to evaluate criticism (28:25) Adriel’s most stressful time at Lyft (30:35) The importance of operational control and what it means (32:35) Why there isn’t always an algorithmic solution to everything (37:47) Thoughts on AI (42:42) Growth hacking and algorithms at Facebook (48:18) Cannonballs in growth—fundamental changes in the product for optimization (49:07) Facebook’s “7 friends in 10 days” push (51:30) What is a marginal user, and what can you learn from their experience? (56:06) How to think about doing experiments (59:10) Why organization and empathy are the most important skills (1:02:59) Lightning round — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Adriel Frederick

  guest

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Adriel Frederick and Lenny Rachitsky, Humanizing product development | Adriel Frederick (Reddit, Lyft, Facebook) explores humanizing Algorithms: Adriel Frederick on Growth, Diversity, and Judgment Lenny interviews Adriel Frederick, VP of Product at Reddit (formerly Facebook Growth and Lyft Marketplace), about building products that combine algorithmic power with human judgment. Adriel explains how R&D-style teams can thrive inside large companies, why diversity is a core business advantage (not just “nice to have”), and how his Trinidadian background shaped his product thinking. He shares stories from Facebook and Lyft about true “growth” versus shallow growth hacking, the necessity of putting humans in the loop for algorithmic decisions, and managing products through controversy and public scrutiny. The conversation closes with lessons on transitioning from IC to executive leadership, emphasizing organization design and empathy as the key multipliers of impact.

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